ORE9, an F-box protein that regulates leaf senescence in Arabidopsis

Senescence is a sequence of biochemical and physiological events that constitute the final stage of development. The identification of genes that alter senescence has practical value and is helpful in revealing pathways that influence senescence. However, the genetic mechanisms of senescence are largely unknown. The leaf of the oresara9 (ore9) mutant of Arabidopsis exhibits increased longevity during age-dependent natural senescence by delaying the onset of various senescence symptoms. It also displays delayed senescence symptoms during hormone-modulated senescence. Map-based cloning of ORE9 identified a 693-amino acid polypeptide containing an F-box motif and 18 leucine-rich repeats. The F-box motif of ORE9 interacts with ASK1 (Arabidopsis Skp1-like 1), a component of the plant SCF complex. These results suggest that ORE9 functions to limit leaf longevity by removing, through ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis, target proteins that are required to delay the leaf senescence program in Arabidopsis.     

Effect of alpha interferon on the hepatitis C virus replicon

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections can be cured only in a fraction of patients treated with alpha interferon (IFN-alpha) and ribavirin combination therapy. The mechanism of the IFN-alpha response against HCV is not understood, but evidence for a role for viral nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) in IFN resistance has been provided. To elucidate the mechanism by which NS5A and possibly other viral proteins inhibit the cellular antiviral program, we have constructed a subgenomic replicon from a known infectious HCV clone and demonstrated that it has an approximately 1,000-fold-higher transduction efficiency than previously used subgenomes. We found that IFN-alpha reduced replication of HCV subgenomic replicons approximately 10-fold. The estimated half-life of viral RNA in the presence of the cytokine was about 12 h. HCV replication was sensitive to IFN-alpha independently of whether the replicon expressed an NS5A protein associated with sensitivity or resistance to the cytokine. Furthermore, our results indicated that HCV replicons can persist in Huh7 cells in the presence of high concentrations of IFN-alpha. Finally, under our conditions, selection for IFN-alpha-resistant variants did not occur.     

近视眼LASIK术后眼高阶像差变化

探讨近视眼LASIK术后眼波阵面像差高阶像差各项的变化。方法:采用NIDEK OPD-Scan ARK-1000型波前像差扫描系统对LASIK治疗近视的62只眼在术前术后眼的波前像差进行了评估。在术前、术后10天、术后一个月分别测量眼的波阵面像差。比较6mm瞳孔下高阶像差各项的变化。结果:在全部接受检查的病例中,总的高阶像差(RMSh)均有所增加。从Zernik各项绝对值来看,球差C12变化最大。术后10天比术前增加6．7742倍(P=0．0001)。其次是彗差C7 C8(X轴、Y轴上的彗差),分别增加了4．883倍(P=0．0001)、3．7523倍(P=0．0001)。结论:LASIK术后眼的总的高阶像差均方根值(RMSh)明显增加,尤其是球差和彗差;但在恢复过程中高阶像差有下降的趋势。用像差仪来指导和评估LASIK等屈光手术可以更全面、更准确。     

水稻氮饥饿诱导基因的克隆与表达分析

为了解水稻(Oryza sativa L.)对氮饥饿反应的分子与基因背景,利用RaSH策略构建了水稻氮(N)饥饿诱导cDNA文库.通过反向Northern筛选该文库,获得氮饥饿诱导的18个功能已知基因和2个功能未知基因.这些已知基因涉及碳代谢、次生代谢产物合成、蛋白质分解代谢、激素代谢、信号转导、生长调控过程及转录因子.这些基因表现出不同的时空表达模式.研究结果表明了植物对氮饥饿反应涉及互相关联的多种生理与分子机理,提供了相关的一些基因信息.     

8株光合细菌的鉴定及其系统进化关系分析

目的为8株光合细菌(photosynthetic bacteria,PSB)作为益生菌株提供系统资料。方法用常规方法对8株PSB菌株的形态、培养特性及生理生化特征进行鉴定,同时定性分析菌株产生的类胡萝卜素和CoQ,测定菌株16S DNA序列并分析其系统进化关系,在GenBank中获取了8个16S DNA序列号。结果菌株鉴定结果表明:菌株2C、2c和13ing为沼泽红假单胞菌,Ga、Il106、WS8N为类球红细菌,MT1131为荚膜红细菌,rub为深红红螺菌。基于菌株16S DNA序列的系统进化树显示,同一种菌并不总是聚为一簇,但相隔较近;种属完全不同的菌株,尽管序列相似性高达97%以上,在系统进化树上相隔较远。结论8株PSB菌株的鉴定和系统进化关系分析结果为后续研究提供了背景资料,同时菌株在GenBank中获得的16S DNA序列号为菌株作上了生物标记,也为菌株的产权保护提供了依据。     

青花菜ProDH基因的克隆及功能鉴定

脯氨酸是水分胁迫植物中最常见的渗透保护物质之一,脯氨酸脱氢酶(ProDH)是存在于线粒体内的催化脯氨酸降解的关键酶,构建RNAi表达载体转化青花菜可以抑制脯氨酸分解提高其抵抗干旱胁迫和盐胁迫的能力。本研究利用同源重组和RACE技术克隆青花菜脯氨酸脱氢酶基因(ProDH),以酶切、连接的方法利用载体pFGC1008构建植物RNAi表达载体pFGC-PDHi。序列分析表明,本文首次克隆了1595bp的青花菜脯氨酸脱氢酶基因cDNA全长,该序列编码498个氨基酸;序列比对发现该核酸序列与拟南芥、甘蓝型油菜、芜菁分别有83.26%、89.07%和97.73%的同源性,其氨基酸序列和拟南芥、甘蓝型油菜、芜菁分别有89.78%、91.38%和98.80%的同源性。测序和酶切鉴定表明青花菜ProDH基因RNA干扰表达载体已经构建成功,并将其转化青花菜得到转化株,经PCR检测,转化株均为阳性株,证明干扰载体的T-DNA区已经成功地整合到了青花菜基因组中。研究还发现在外源的L-脯氨酸存在时,转化株的脯氨酸脱氢酶的活性受到了明显的抑制。本研究为青花菜的抗旱育种提供了非常有价值的新种质材料。